Impeller Dilemma

I've bent the new sails on and we are nearly ready for the season. Knew something was up with the engine from last year, when it kept cutting out at low revs. I guessed it might be the carb again and cleaned it out with the spray. Didn't help, so looked at the cooling. Bingo! water flows nicely through at high rpm but at low revs, virtually nothing.

Checked the manual for the honda and took of the gearbox housing (easy, just two bolts plus the gearbox linkage) and took it home for a look. Bought a new impeller from Fox in Jersey for £15 or so.

And here are the results:

Impeller housing.

Spot the problem?

This is what a good one looks like for comparison!

New impeller nicely tucked in place.







Re-installing the gearbox case was pretty tricky as the drive shaft from the engine to the propeller dropped out when I took the gearcase off and it is very difficult to realign at the top. Took a long time and a lot of fiddling to get it in place, and then it promptly dropped out again due to gravity. Eventually aligned it again and held it in place this time and screwed it all together. It all seems ok but I haven't tried it with the engine running yet. I'll try it tomorrow and if it works, I'll go out for a sail (first this year!)